Last night they were so excited they could hardly go to sleep.  They got up without any delay this morning.  They were in and out of the shower and dressed so quickly.  We drove them to school and got there a bit early.  Instead of making chitchat trying to keep their nerves calm, we turned on our CD players to the Curious George soundtrack.  We were dancing and laughing in the car.  BusyBoy got the video camera and recorded us acting silly.  It was a very fun way to start the day.

On the way home from school, they told Lee and me that they the best first grade teacher.  They read a lot and did lots of fun stuff.  Somethings do stay the same.  Their favorite part of the day is still recess.

Today Lee and I schlepped the kids and all of our laundry to the laundromat. We have made the laundromat run once a week for the past month. When we were doing that we were only doing the clothes and not the sheets and towels. It must have been close to 500 – 600 pounds of laundry. If it was not actually that much laundry, it certainly felt like 500 – 600 pounds of laundry. We loaded up the washing machines that hold 5 times a normal load. Hey, I told you we had lots of laundry to do. 5 times a normal load! You have got to love that. 30 minutes later all the laundry was completely washed. Then it took about 45 minutes or so for all the laundry to dry. With all four of us working at one time on folding, we finished in no time flat.

I know we will be hitting Craig’s List for a washer and dryer before long. While I love the convenience of doing laundry at home, I also love the fact that we can do so much laundry at one time in 2 – 3 hours start to finish.

My children start first grade on Monday. We met their teacher yesterday. In the 90 seconds or so we talked to her, she seems nice. BusyBoy and GigglyGirl are going to be in the same class again this year. They will be at different tables and in different groups but in the same class.

We took them to get new tennis shoes this week for PE. They got new backpacks and lunchboxes. BusyBoy got a new haircut. GigglyGirl got her ears pierced. It has been a busy week. I am going to miss them so much next week when they are not running around the house yelling, laughing, asking me a million questions.

I cannot believe I do not have babies any longer and that they are big kids going to first grade.

When do your children start back to school? Are you ready for it or not? Will you miss them or are you ready for them to be back at school?

Being a Native Atlantan, I have celebrated the Fourth at almost every major fireworks extravaganza in the city at one time or another.

As a very young child we would watch the fireworks at Lenox Mall and I believe also at Perimeter Mall.  I do not remember much about these celebrations as we moved from there shortly before my 7^th birthday.  I do remember the noise bothering me one year and I am pretty sure I screamed my head off that year.  Luckily for my younger siblings, my parents were patient with me and continued to take us to fireworks displays even when my younger siblings were born.

In my family growing up, going to see the fireworks at Stone Mountain was a tradition as a child.  This is before there was even a nightly Laser Show.  We would trek out for the fireworks.  Instead of actually going into the park with the younger children who would be frightened by the noise, we parked a few miles away.  When the Laser Show started, the fireworks and Fourth of July celebration was awesome!  There would be the 45 minute Laser Show and then a 15 – 20 minute firework show.  Before the Laser Show, we would take a picnic dinner to have on the lawn.  It turned into a day long celebration that is very hard to beat.

When I lived in Rome, Georgia, there were fireworks on the levy with the Rome City Orchestra playing live music before the fireworks.  It was a community event and the place to be in Rome. In addition to the fireworks in Rome, my parents took us back to Stone Mountain several years for the fireworks and Laser Show.  So, we would have fireworks 2 or 3 days in a row for the Fourth of July.

As a married adult, we have also done fireworks locally in our community.  Those are usually a bust as there is no way our small town can compete with the extravaganza that is Stone Mountain or Lenox Mall.  We have done Lenox Mall a couple of times.  Lenox is fun but the music is hard to hear.  Still, being around all those other Americans to celebrate the Fourth gives me such a sense of pride in our country and patriotism.

Of course, Lee and I have done fireworks at Stone Mountain, which despite the huge crowd and long lines to get out of the park, is my absolute favorite.  It reminds me of the fun times I had as a child celebrating with my family.  It reminds me of the fun times I have had as an adult.  It is as American to me as Apple Pie – well, actually Peach Pie, which we normally have on the Fourth in my house.

This year, we will participate in Tea Party Patriots events on Friday and Saturday night.  We will probably wind up seeing the fireworks from Downtown Atlanta.  I think that might be the only major venue in the city I have not seen the fireworks from.  It should be a fun Fourth.  Maybe I’ll even convince Lee that we should make the trek to Stone Mountain 1 day to extend the holiday into a 3 day celebration.  Regardless, my kids cannot wait for it!

And, neither can their mom.

While the Tea Parties are a political statement, I have had some cool (and mostly non-political) things happen as a result of my involvement in the Atlanta Tea Party and in Tea Party Patriots, home of the Nationwide Tea Party Movement.

1. I have had some extra business for my husband’s and my computer repair work we are currently doing.  This is good because heaven knows we need the money.
2. Facebook and the Tea Parties have reconnected me with many of my friends from the past, especially high school friends.  There are so many people who I have not been in touch with in years and years.  While we would have caught up some from Facebook, the Tea Parties have really increased that communication.  One friend who I carpooled with in high school, Eric, has commented on several of my posts on Facebook and has been very supportive and encouraging.  Michael, who was one of my brother’s and my neighborhood group.  Michael and Ben were in between my brother, Jonathan, and me in age.  It is hard to separate my memories from the summers in high school from the three of them.  Michael now owns a framing shop in Alabama and does wonderful photography.  Check his site out Hanging Around Hoover!  Another friend from my high school and church, Scott, who lives in Dallas now has been in touch with me as well.  On the morning of my first live tv interview on Fox and Friends, he texted me to let me know he was thinking of me and planning to watch me.  Finally, I would be remiss if I did not mention Daniel.  He and I were in high school together but were in different grades and did not hang out.  He has been incredibly supportive.  He has sent me several words of wisdom through email and I really appreciate his friendship!
3. There are so many other friends that have been awesome during the planning process for the Atlanta Tea Party:  Bart, Charlice, Ali, Karen, Jeff, Christine, Linda, and Terri have been an extra special help to me and I appreciate their friendship and support.
4. Before last week, I had never been on live tv.  Now, I have been on live tv three times.  Once with my husband, Lee, on Fox and Friends and twice on Fox Business.  I have also been on Montel Williams’ Air America radio show live.  Oh, that was brutal!  I still have a lot to learn if I ever want to be a talking head and debate issues in front of a live audience.
5. One of Atlanta’s shock jock radio personalities, Regular Guy Eric von Haessler, has been a speaker at both of our Atlanta Tea Parties.  I have listened to Larry, Eric, and Southside Steve for years.  It is awesome to have a face and real conversations to put with their voices in the mornings.  Eric gave me some good pointers about how to handle live interviews in the future, which I very much appreciate!
6. I visited Los Angeles for the first time.  Unfortunately, all I saw was an office building, a hotel, and the airport.  As we were taking off on the flight back to Atlanta, Amy, the Nationwide Event Coordinator said to me, “Look, there’s the beach.”  I did get to see the beach out of the window of the airplane but that was all.  If I ever go to LA again, I am making sure I see more than offices, hotels, and airports!
7. During the production planning, I learned what “stringers” are.  Kenny Stokes from Fuse AV is incredibly awesome.  He was patient as I was learning about the technical aspects for the av equipment.  He and his Co-Worker Bob were  incredibly patient as we re-shuffled the schedule – AGAIN – not only before we went live but as we were live the night of the Atlanta Tax Day Tea Party.
8. Joel Aaron of Atlanta WGKA 920 AM has been more than incredibly supportive of our movement.  He is working on a project to get a pocket US Constitution in the hands of every Georgian.  Oh, and speaking of Joel Aaron, Eric Odom of DontGo, Lloyd Marcus who performed the “official” Tea Party Movement anthem, and I are all preacher’s kids or PKs for short.  I wonder how many more PKs there are in the movement.
9. Jonathan Dressler and his band, That 30/60, volunteered to be our live band long before Sean Hannity announced he would be broadcasting live from Atlanta.  He is an incredible young man with a very bright future.
10. Before the Tea Parties I would never have considered myself great at fundraising.  I have learned when I believe in something passionately I will ask for money for it from anyone, pretty much anywhere.
11. Amy, Debbie, and Virginia are great to have as your Co-Coordinators.  Lucky for me they are my Co-Coordinators!
12. It is kind of scary to think you are going to speak to a crowd of 10,000 + people.  When you actually have to give your speech and realize the crowd is 20,000 + the fear goes away and the energy of the crowd gives you confidence without fear.
13. I might qualify for a job as a diplomat considering all the ruffled feathers I had to smooth and negotiating I had to do to keep various speakers, sponsors, media, and volunteers, and participants/protesters happy.  I might qualify to be an Event Planner since I was able (with the help of many, many other wonderful people) to pull off the Atlanta Tea Party.   But, my favorite job by far is being mom to GigglyGirl and BusyBoy and wife to Lee!!

For those who are interested in the Atlanta Tea Party, check out this awesome video that Luke Livingston from Ground Floor Video created.